Eating Disorder in over ass’s Eating disorders are primarily concerned with the actions and thoughts related to food intake, and include anorexia nervous, bulimia nervous, and binge eating. Much of the information on eating disorders in Korea confirms expectations. According to a study done by the Health Insurance Review Agency, female patients of eating disorders (DE) outnumber males 9 times. For specific details on the gender makeup, females comprised 77% to 81 . 1% of patients, while men accounted for 18. 9% to 23%.
In a social environment that emphasizes appearance and the confrontation of “healthy living,” there as been a resulting increase in DES. From 2008 to 2012, the total number of patients increased from 1 0,940 to 1 3,002 people. The average annual growth rate was 4. 5%. A surprising trend, however, can be seen when filtering cases by age. Interestingly, in 2012, 17. 4% Of all DE patients were aged 70 years and up. This actually makes elderly patients the second largest group out of all DE patients. This goes against the idea of who most people believe are the only people affected by DES- I. . , young women at an impressionTABLE age. Still, we cannot assume that DES begin and evolve the same way for both younger and elder patients The causes of DES are related to genetics, but often times lie outside of biological factors, attributed more often to social and psychological factors such as stress and the marketing of cheap high-caloric foods. Cases of DE in the elderly present their patients with a unique set of concerns, due to their age. An important fact to remember is that as the population ages, their citizens requires a greater share of public service.
As developed and post- industrial nations have seen the decline of the extended family, care of the elderly has moved from being a family responsibility, to a social responsibility. The nuclear family, consisting of one couple and their children, can often only afford to care for its immediate members. This is only exacerbated by the high costs of nursing care for elderly family members, depending on the degree of care needed. For the elderly, the single most important determinant of quality of life is health.
A Person whose health is negatively affected by DES will lead shorter and less satisfactory lives than those who report good health, and the capability to pursue desired activities. Especially among the elderly, health matters tend to affect all other areas of living. As he population of Korea continues to age, this can only become a greater social issue. In treating Des, the primary goal is obviously the correction of dietary habits. To accomplish this, patients may utilize cognitive behavioral therapy (CAB), individual psychotherapy, family therapy, and appropriate medication.
Besides dietary habits, doctors may target repairing low self- esteem and depression as well. But even with all of these well-meaning and beneficial treatments, this approach is still an example of tertiary prevention, which seeks to merely minimize deterioration in those who are already ill. The aim of this paper is to analyze disordered eating in the elderly, to determine sociological factors that lead to it, and to suggest better policies and treatments that focus on these factors. If government and medical institutions utilize primary prevention, it may lead to better treatment, or lesson the problem as a whole.
Health Belief Model and Eating Disorder SUSCEPTIBILITY Susceptibility can be defined as the degree to which one believes he or she is susceptible to a health threat. In Most cases, the elderly (>70) are unaware of their eating habits and find their behaviors less important. According to a 006 study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIB), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about 0. 5 to 3. 7 percent of women across all ages will develop anorexia nervous over the course of their lifetime.
Denial is usually due to them overestimating their health conditions because elderly See their chances of getting an eating disorder as low. SEVERITY The degree to which people perceive a health threat to be severe dictates the extent to which they will immobile resources and take action to protect them. Those who perceive the disorder to be inconsequential will implement less action against their symptoms. For example, elderly with eating disorders associate such changes in eating habits to be “part of aging’ and do not recognize the serious consequences on their health.
Sometimes this minimal sense of severity is a result of comparing one’s self to others. When they compare their conditions or type of eating habits with the eating disorders highlighted in teenagers, they feel that they are better off and brush off their symptoms as less serious. When in reality, older bodies cannot tolerate the same degree of abuse as younger bodies can. PERCEIVED BENEFITS In the HUB, the extent to which people feel a specific course of action will effectively manage a problem or be beneficial to their overall well being greatly predicts the likelihood of engaging in said behavior.
The elderly perception of such course of actions may be speculated and based on cultural stereotype. With the threat of social stigma, they find that by seeking action, they will not be better off. Treatment and action taken may lead others to perceive them differently. In today’s increasingly weakened family ties, they are likely to see themselves as a “problem” or “burden” in the nuclear family. Also, the elderly remain skeptical that any type of action can slow down the aging process as they experience increasing amounts of body dissatisfaction and despair.
Barriers constitute factors that inhibit or fully disrupt one’s ability to perform a specific health behavior. Therefore, barriers translate to all things that restrain people from accessing or utilizing social us port to better manage their disease. As the Elderly is not as open as the younger generation, it is not as culturally accepTABLE to let the people around them know of their illness because of the fear of being judged. Because the elderly see such eating habits as non-severe, the cost of seeking clinical help triggers a potential uncial strain.
Another barrier described is that seeking support involved placing concern for others ahead of concern for one’s self. Choosing not to seek support from others served to shield friends and family from the pain eating disorders could cause. This is especially true because the elderly see themselves as old and their perception of self worth and subsequent opportunities for contribution have already diminished greatly. Self efficacy is the degree to which a person believes he or she is personally capTABLE of performing a specific health behavior.
There are two key issues guarding self efficacy, which involves the ability to articulate the need for support to others and social withdrawal symptoms. In this case, social withdrawal isolating themselves from there already diminishing social circles due to friends passing away or contracting more chronic illnesses. Socio-Economic Status (SEES) and Eating Disorder Relationship between the eating disorder problem and SEES After the description of the eating disorder problem among the elderly in Korean society, the followings are the analysis of what factors contributed to this issue.
First of all, the eating disorder problem among the elderly is likely related to he socioeconomic status (SEES). SEES is a broader measure method use by American sociologists which is derived from ideas about social stratification of Weber (1978). It consists of three variTABLEs: income, occupational prestige, and level of education. These three variTABLEs are interrelated and each reflects different dimensions of a person’s position in the class structure of a society.
For example, income reflects spending power, medical care; occupation measures status, responsibility at work; and education shows a person’s skills for acquiring positive social and psychological an economic resources. 1 Sociologist Bartlett et al. 2004) claimed that the socioeconomic status is the strongest and most consistent predictor of a person’s health and life expectancy. 2 As Ivan Reid (1998) explained, “Social class is the most foundation form of social stratification. Mainly this is due to the fact that most of the vital social differences can be seen to have an economic base. 3 William Cockerels also said, “People at the bottom of society have the worst living conditions that goes along with having the worst health. Regardless of what country poor people live in, what type of health insurance they have or do not have, and the level of health care hey receive, they still have the worst health of all. ” 4 It is obvious that sociologists tend to believe a person’s health could be affected by the SEES factors: a person who has higher SEES status is more likely to have better health than the lower SEES status one.
To our group, we suggest that the SEES status is not only an indicator of a person’s life style but also is a reflection of their psychological and mental health. The elderly and Income Most elderly in Korea do not have enough financial support from the government and their family. Income means the ability to acquire the sources and it is the most important factor to sustain the life standard of a person, especially the elderly. As Herd et al. (2007) found that income becoming more important for health as a person moves toward older age. Income was more strongly associated with the manner in which the health problems progressed over time. It was dominant in explaining progression from poor health to worse health and especially the progression to death. “5 As the elderly are getting older, many of them are retired or physically cannot continue to work. Nonetheless, not all of them have enough saving to support their rest life. According to the static from Korea National Statistical Office, only 46. 9% elderly people get the pension in 2012. That means more than a half Korean older people still have no pension.
Also, the pension is not enough to support their daily needs as 81. 8% elderly who have pension are receiving less than 500 thousand KERR per month. About 36. 4% of them are receiving less than 100 thousand KERR per month. 6 Cockerels, W. C. (2009). Medical sociology (l lath Edition). Prentice Hall. Cockerels , Medical Sociology. 3 4 5 Cockerels, Medical Sociology. 6 Remaining. (201 3, July 18). No Guarantee for the Aged in Korea. Retrieved from 2 On the other hand, the weakening family ties and the changing family value lead to the increase of single elderly household.
In 2000, there are 543,500 single living elders in Korea but in 2010, the number increased to more than A portion of the elderly live in the rural area as their child left the hometown and came to Seoul for better education and career. 8 Also, some families even tend to think that it is the government’s responsibility to take care of the elderly but not the family duty. Under such circumstances, the income of the elderly is insecure and unsTABLE. On one hand, it is hard for them to earn money by themselves; on the other hand, they have little support by both society and family.
Therefore, the income constraint generated certain stress to them, especially those who with little resource are more stressful and vulnerTABLE to suffer anxiety and despair, finally having eating disorder. The elderly and occupation As the elderly become physically weaker than before, most of them need to retire. Losing their jobs makes them easily feel that they are no longer young, healthy or wanted in society. On the other hand, some elderly still need to org for their lives. Yet, the average retirement age in Korea is 53 years old. However, there is a trend of reemployment within Korean society.
Some retired people tend to back to the position in order to earn money for supporting their daily lives. The reemployment rate of the elderly in 2012 increased 0. 7%, about 5, 788,000 older people still in the labor market. 9 Whatever the elderly get a job or not, they both endure lots of pressure. Older people who cannot handle the changes well would easily suffer from anxiety and depression and finally, it would turn to eating disorder. 1 0 The elderly and education level In Korea, the education level of the elderly is not very high.
As the education was not popular few decades ago, plus some historical and political factors, most of the elderly did not receive well education. Those who are not wildcatted are tending to participate in physical work or stay in rural area. When they become older and older, it is harder for them to change their job.
